full working paper - e

Transcription

Nepalese diasporic websites, signs and
conditions of a diaspora in the making?
Tristan Bruslé
April 2012
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the expression
“Nepalese diaspora” has increasingly been used by the
Nepalese government, expatriates, reporters and intellectuals. The Nepalese diaspora, or those who speak on
behalf of it, occupies a growing amount of Nepalese
public space, especially on the Internet. Taking into
account the performativity of the term “diaspora”, the
author tries to understand how Nepalese diasporic
websites are the sign and conditions of an “incipient
diaspora”. Analysis of authoritative websites and links
between different websites helps understand the structure of the Nepalese diaspora and the issues at stake.
e-Diasporas Atlas
Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme
190 avenue de France - 75013 Paris - France
Programme de recherche TIC-Migrations
Projet e-Diasporas Atlas : http://e-diasporas.fr
Nepalese diasporic websites, signs and conditions of a diaspora in the making?
2/16
Nepalese diasporic websites, signs and
conditions of a diaspora in the making?
Tristan Bruslé
April 2012
The author
Tristan Bruslé is a researcher at the Centre for Himalayan Studies (CNRS, France). He is interested
in all forms of Himalayan population mobility from the perspective of migration and diaspora studies.
After completing his PhD on the migratory processes and the relations to space of Nepalese temporary
workers in India, he widened his research to labor migrations in the Gulf and to Indian communities of
Nepali origin. The study of Nepalese diaspora websites is part of a larger project that focuses on intellectual and cultural productions by Nepalese expatriates.
L’auteur
Tristan Bruslé est chercheur au Centre d’Etudes Himalayennes (CNRS). Il s’intéresse à la mobilité des
populations himalayennes, sous toutes ses formes, dans la perspective des études migratoires et diasporiques. Après une thèse sur les processus migratoires et les rapports à l’espace des travailleurs temporaires
népalais en Inde, il a élargi ses recherches aux migrations de travail dans le Golfe persique et aux communautés indiennes d’origine népalaise. L’étude des sites web de la diaspora népalaise fait partie d’un projet
d’étude des productions intellectuelles et culturelles (chansons, films) des expatriés népalais.
Reference to this document
Tristan Bruslé, Nepalese diasporic websites, signs and conditions of a diaspora in the making?, e-Diasporas Atlas,
April 2012.
Plateforme e-Diasporas
http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?focus=section&section=12
Version française
Tristan Bruslé, Les sites diasporiques népalais, signes et conditions d’une diaspora en formation ?, e-Diasporas
Atlas, April 2012.
© Fondation Maison des Sciences de
l’Homme - Programme de recherche TICMigrations - projet e-Diasporas Atlas - 2012
190-196 avenue de France
75013 Paris - France
http://www.msh-paris.fr
http://e-diasporas.fr
Les Working Papers «TIC-Migrations e-Diasporas Atlas» ont pour objectif la diffusion ouverte des travaux menés dans le cadre
du projet de recherche ANR e-Diasporas
Atlas.
Les opinions exprimées dans cet article n’engagent que leur auteur et ne reflètent pas
nécessairement les positions institutionnelles
de la Fondation MSH.
«TIC-Migrations - e-Diasporas Atlas» Working Papers are produced in the course of the
scientific activities conducted in the ANR
research project e-Diasporas Atlas.
The views expressed in this paper are the
author’s own and do not necessarily reflect
institutional positions from the Foundation
MSH.
3/16
Résumé
Depuis le début des années 2000, l’expression « diaspora népalaise » est de plus en plus employée par les
expatriés, les journalistes, les intellectuels et le gouvernement népalais. L’association des Non Resident
Nepalis (NRN), créée en 2003, cherche à fédérer la diaspora (définie très largement comme l’ensemble
des Népalais habitant plus de six mois par an hors du Népal) et à peser sur le destin politique et économique du pays. La diaspora népalaise, ou tout du moins les instances qui disent la représenter, prend une
place importante dans l’espace public népalais et sur le web en particulier. En prenant en compte l’aspect
performatif du terme, il m’importe de comprendre comment les sites web sont le signe d’une « diaspora
en formation » (‘incipient diaspora’, Sheffer), à la fois moyens de faire vivre la diaspora et manifestations
de celle-ci. Si on accepte la multipolarité, l’interpolarité et la conscience de la dispersion comme étant
caractéristiques des diasporas (Ma Mung), l’analyse des liens entre les sites et des sites d’autorité permet
de comprendre la structure de la diaspora népalaise et les enjeux qui la traverse. Les 470 sites répertoriés
ne représentent pas la réalité de la dispersion des Népalais hors du Népal mais symbolisent plutôt la
domination d’une minorité (les Népalais en Occident) sur une majorité dans le Golfe, en Malaisie et en
Inde. La prise de parole dans l’espace public qu’est le web est inégalitaire et reflète aussi les tensions de la
société népalaise. Il n’empêche que les liens entre sites sont réels, que les sites de l’association NRN fédèrent le web associatif et que ceux des associations culturelles (aux objectifs de préservation de la culture
népalaise) sont largement majoritaires. Les sites web diasporiques népalais sont donc le signe d’une
diaspora en formation, où les migrants transnationaux sont les véritables acteurs. L’étude rejoint ceux qui
voient dans la diaspora un processus d’identification plus qu’une formation sociale fixe, notamment car
la diaspora népalaise (hors Inde) manque de profondeur historique. L’étude « etic » des discours « emic »
(Tölölyan) de présentation de soi par la diaspora montre que les sites web diasporiques népalais, par leur
dimension publique et performative, sont au cœur du processus de construction de la diaspora népalaise.
Abstract
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the expression “Nepalese diaspora” has increasingly been used
by the Nepalese government, expatriates, reporters and intellectuals. The Nepalese diaspora, or those
who speak on behalf of it, occupies a growing amount of Nepalese public space, especially on the Internet. Taking into account the performativity of the term “diaspora”, the author tries to understand how
Nepalese diasporic websites are the sign and conditions of an “incipient diaspora”. Analysis of authoritative websites and links between different websites helps understand the structure of the Nepalese
diaspora and the issues at stake. The Internet is hardly egalitarian and reflects the tensions in Nepalese
society. However, links between websites are real. Non Resident Nepalis Association websites are central to the associative Web, and cultural association websites are in the majority. The “etic” study of
“emic” discourses of self-presentation by the diaspora shows that, through their public and performative
dimensions, Nepalese diasporic websites are at the very heart of the process of constructing the Nepalese
diaspora.
Keywords
diaspora, web, Internet, Nepal, performativity
Mots-clefs
diaspora, web, Internet, Népal, performativité
S
ince the beginning of the new millennium, the term “Nepalese diaspora” has
been used more and more by the Nepalese
government, reporters and intellectuals.
Created in 2003 along the lines of the Non-Resident Indian Association, the Non-Resident Nepali
Association (NRNA) has been trying to federate
Nepalese people residing abroad and to play an
economic and political role in the country’s destiny.1 Diasporic claims go hand in hand with
the surge in international labor migration that
emerged from the end of the 1990s onwards.2
Prior to then, the Nepalese diaspora did not exist
because no one talked about it, with the exception
of Hutt (1997). Today, determining the extent of
the Nepalese diaspora or the number of Nepalese
expatriates is still a difficult undertaking (Sharma
& Sharma, 2011). Outside of Nepal, between
three and six million people could claim to be of
Nepalese descent to one degree or another, whilst
the actual Nepalese population amounts to 28
million.
In a scientific context where the term ‘diaspora’ is
used in diverse ways (Brubaker, 2005) and where
the term has been taken up by scattered groups as
part of a strategy aimed at self-designation and at
claiming their rights (Ma Mung, 2006), it is not
surprising that the Nepalese have also appropriated it. The NRNA aspires to become a showcase for Nepalese expatriates, to ensure them an
existence and power. As their spokesman, it uses
the term ‘diaspora’ in an uncompromising way.
However, the etic discourse might qualify it as an
“incipient diaspora” or a diaspora “in the making”
(Sheffer, 2003).
Diasporic websites have developed at the same
time as public awareness of this dispersion
emerged. Run by expatriate community members, these sites help “the diasporic process, that is
[they support] the members’ consciousness or the
awareness about a common identity, declare it to
the world, found it and organize the community
self-assigned roles” (Scopsi, 2009: 92). The word
diaspora is commonly used, but few questions
seem to be asked about it. From Ma Mung’s perspective (2000), according to whom a diaspora is
characterized by multipolarity, interpolarity and
1. A non-resident Nepalese national is defined as a foreign
citizen of Nepalese origin or as a Nepalese citizen residing
outside Nepal for more than six months a year.
2. Each year, at least 600,000 persons go abroad, mainly in
search of work.
4/16
the consciousness of dispersion, the reason for
this approach by observing the diaspora through
its websites is to study the links that connect all
the websites. The e-Diaspora project, thanks to its
tools of analysis, helps us to understand the role
of an e-diaspora in the creation of a social group
one of whose problems is building a community
despite or rather by making use of its dispersal
(Ma Mung, 2006).3 As the links between websites mirror the links between people – there is no
binary opposition between real life and virtual life
(Gajjala, 2006) – websites are both a way of creating a diaspora, and an expression of and a means
of self-assertion and of teaming up. The question
of the performativity of the term ‘diaspora‘ must
be addressed with regard to relations and power
within the group itself. The validity of the assertion made by Winkin (2006: 141), according to
whom «to control new information technologies
is to ensure a new right to be seen and heard,
which disrupts traditional power relations”, will
also be questioned since access to the Web and
to airing one’s opinion on the web is still uneven.
What follows is a preliminary study of the
Nepalese diasporic Web in an attempt to understand how it is organized, the stakes involved and
any tensions present. I will try to answer the
following questions: How do websites help to
“form a society” in a dispersion situation? What
does the structure of the Nepalese diasporic Web
reveal? What are its main strengths and it points
of convergence? In short, how are diasporic websites both an expression and a condition of the
Nepalese diaspora?
After having analyzed the structure of the
Nepalese diasporic website and website categories, I will show how the links between sites allow
us to talk of an e-diaspora. In a more exploratory
part, I will tackle the question of how the diaspora
is formed and unites expatriates via its websites.
The structure of the web of
Nepalese people from outside
The mobility of people outside Nepal is nothing
new. Outmigration of Gurkha mercenaries and
of workers to British India was encouraged
during colonial times. Patterns of migration to
India, whether temporary or permanent, have
been superseded since the end of 1990s by massive migration to the Gulf countries, Malaysia
3. The analysis was carried out on 470 websites.
and, to a lesser extent, to Western countries. The
Nepalese diasporic Web, which is dense and
dominated by voluntary organizations, partly
reflects this geographic dispersion.
A dense yet barely clustered graph
The Nepalese diasporic website graph (http://
maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?focus=map&m
ap=36&section=12) reveals no clear clusters of
websites. According to the graph, there seems to
be strong website connectivity organized around
a set of websites whose organizing role can be
estimated by the size of the nodes observed. The
Nepalese corpus density of 1 %is average when
compared to that of the other corpora (Hmong
1.7%, Palestinians 4.4 %, Sikhs 3.1 %, Indians 0.4
5/16
%). A series of 57 websites with no link to the rest
of the corpus have been found manually, without
the help of Navicrawler.
As far as the making of a diaspora is concerned, the fact that nodes, that is sites, are close to
each other and form a dense mass, is already a
first finding. It expresses the strength of the links
between local and global communities.
Voluntary organization websites
lead the way
To analyze the diasporic Web, relevant categories of analysis have to be created which are both
heuristically productive and which correspond
to existing forms. Five categories emerged when
compiling the corpus.
Table 1: Website categories
(http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/resources/templates/actions/viewsvg.php)
Inbound
density
Internal
density
Outbound
density
19
1.5
5.4
1
6
0.9
2.5
Type of website
Number
Proportion (in %)
Voluntary
organization1
262
56
Company
89
66
29
Media2
3
Institution
4
Individual
5
23
14
5
0.5
0.3
0.5
1
1
0.1
0.2
1.1
0.9
0.4
1. Websites of cultural, humanitarian, ethnic organizations, etc. The voluntary feature is explicit in the name of the site or of the
entity that runs it.
2. Most media websites are free websites offering news about Nepal (many are news aggregators that are barely customized)
and about the country/region of residence (run by members of this community at regional or town level). They also provide
information about the local Nepalese community, and they broadcast news, video clips and pirated Nepali movies.
3. Company websites are showcases for businesses run by Nepalese people abroad (accountants, lawyers, travel agencies, restaurants, online shops, etc.).
4. Institution websites are predominantly run by Nepalese embassies. A few official websites and the websites of research centers
complete this category.
5. The “individual” category groups websites and blogs run by an individual or a family. Only a few of them are really active.
The “voluntary organization” category largely
dominates the corpus, comprising 56 % of all
diasporic websites. The “type of website» subgraph (http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?fo
cus=nodeattribute&graph=62&map=36&node
attribute=8&section=12) shows the ubiquity of
these websites, situated at the center and on the
periphery of the graph. They are a major component of close-knit diasporic communities.
Though non-government organization websites
are closely linked to each other, there are more
inbound and outbound links with the websites
in the “media” category (the second one). From
their names, Marylandnepal.com or Tamu Samaj
Belgium, for example, one realizes that two thirds
of them contain the name of their country of residence or of origin. There is a strong sense of territorial attachment.
The distribution of the “media” category is less
uniform than the ��
“��
voluntary organization��
”��
category and has a high internal density, which is
a sign of a high number of links between sites.
Eighty per cent of the latter are portals that provide news about Nepal and Nepalese people in the
world (“Keeping the diaspora connected always”
is, for example, Nepalhorizons.com’s motto) and, to
a lesser extent, about the place from where they
post information. Besides these news sites, those
geared to entertainment (radio, movies, songs)
provide the Internet user with a direct link to the
Nepalese folk culture. In some of Qatar’s migrant
worker labor camps,4 which have an Internet connection, canadanepal.net is one of the most popular websites because it enables migrants to view
the latest Nepalese movies on streaming websites. The “media” category is definitely oriented
towards the homeland. Since the “��
��
voluntary organization” category is the biggest, and news about
Nepal remains a focus for Nepalese expatriates,
these two categories have the most links.
The “company” category is clearly situated on the
graph’s periphery. Although 50 % are located in
the United States, their authority remains marginal. The 66 company websites have a stronger
link to media websites than to the rest of the corpus through advertising, but their “ethnic business” activity remains marginal.
The “institution” category is made up mainly of
Nepalese Embassy websites, which do not occupy
a central position in the organization of the diaspora, apart from the Nepalese Embassy website
in Great Britain. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
website is an important authoritative site because
it is often cited, in particular by the diplomatic
network.
The last category, “individual”, represents five per
cent of all websites and is made up of a majority
of blogs, a great many of which are not active.
Strangely enough, rajan.com, a family-run website, dominates this category even though it has
not been active since 2009. Is it because it was one
of the first personal websites to be run by a Nepalese expatriate living in the United States? The
fact remains that individual opinion occupies very
little space on the Web and is barely acknowledged: individual websites are seldom cited, as if
only collective commitment were legitimate.
4. Dwelling places for migrants in the Gulf are called labor
camps.
6/16
This rapid study of Nepalese diasporic websites
shows domination by private collective actors.
Non-government associations are a key element
in organizing the diaspora, since the Nepalese
state is absent, contrary to that of India, the Philippines or Croatia, which have official authorities
to monitor the diaspora. Non-Resident Nepalese
(NRN) status was defined by the Nepalese
government in 2007 and led to the creation of
NRN and PNO (Person of Nepalese Origin) cards,
which facilitate the coming and going of people
and investments by people of Nepalese origin
who have taken up foreign citizenship and have
therefore forsaken their Nepalese citizenship.
Although the government supports NRNA’s
economic initiatives, it has so far rejected any
demands for dual citizenship. The Nepalese
national identity remains exclusive.
Chosen interconnections
Just as “transnational diasporic life requires nodes
in its networks, nodes marked by a relative sedentariness” (Tölölyan, 2007: 654), the diasporic Web
also needs a certain degree of fixity to guarantee
its future. As Tölölyan reminds us, for a transnational network to exist, communities belonging to it need geographical stability: this is also a
condition for the existence of websites and a sign
of their becoming an integral part of the public
sphere.
The Nepalese diasporic web in the
global geographical space
The geography of diasporic websites (http://
maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?focus=nodeattrib
ute&graph=62&map=36&nodeattribute=16&se
ction=12), scattered over 38 countries, does not
reflect how Nepalese people are dispersed worldwide. When compared to the actual localization
of websites, estimates of Nepalese communities
living outside their country5 show the absence of
any correlation between the two or, to be more
precise, they actually reveal a reverse correlation.
The most active communities on the web are not
those with the highest numbers.
The domination of websites based in the United
States is striking. They make up a third of all sites,
whereas the United Kingdom represents only
one sixth. Four countries (USA, UK, Australia
and Canada) host 59 per cent of all websites. The
5. It is almost impossible estimate accurately the Nepalese
population living abroad.
7/16
Table 2: Distribution of websites according to the country of residence and densities for countries with more than nine websites)
Country
Number of
websites
(n≥9)
USA
151
Australia
33
UK
Canada
Japan
Belgium
Nepal
South Korea
India
Germany
Hong Kong
Qatar
Other
countries
71
23
18
15
14
14
13
12
11
9
86
Proportion of
websites
in total
(%)
% of links
related to
the country
Inbound
density
Internal
density
Outbound
density
Total density
32
15
45
2.2
0.4
1.1
7
13
0.7
11
0.4
9.5
0.6
5
9
4
12
3
12
3
0
3
3
3
2
2
18
5
8
2
3
3
-
0.4
0.9
2.1
9.5
1.6
23.8
2.6
4.1
0.6
6.7
0.3
1.5
0.9
1.5
0.8
1.6
15.8
0.3
6.3
0.3
3.7
1.1
1.2
0.2
-
3.6
5.8
-
1
0.6
0.7
0.1
0.7
1.5
0
0.2
2.4
4.2
2.2
0.1
0.6
1.4
1.3
-
Map 1: Country-related distribution of Nepalese diasporic websites
websites are concentrated over a few countries,
and inconsistencies in their representation seem
to reflect a standard situation: this needs to be
investigated and explained. Whereas the majority of Nepalese expatriates live in India (4 to 6
million), in Gulf countries (about 2 million) and
in Malaysia (0.3 million), websites located in the
Western world and in developed Asian countries dominate the corpus in a disproportionate
manner.
As far as USA-based websites are concerned,
it is worthwhile noting that their centrality on
the main graph is not corroborated by inbound
densities that are higher than other sites. How
are we to explain this? It is due to two statistical factors. Firstly, the “American website” corpus
is much more “extraverted” than other corpora,
with a low internal density, as in the case of the
UK. Secondly, as it is a sizeable corpus, the number of authoritative websites is also high, which
means that they receive a large number of links
(see below).
American and British corpora have the lowest
internal densities. As each of these countries
has a high number of websites, it is no surprise
to note that not all these sites are connected to
each other. In the USA, groupings are based more
on the type of website than on any other criteria:
voluntary organization websites are better interconnected than media websites.
In other countries, internal densities are high,
revealing that the notion of local community,
bound by its geographical position, is still of
considerable importance. Japanese, Australian or
Canadian corpora are made up of websites that
are all interconnected, save for one or two exceptions, and they are fully connected to the rest of
the global corpus. Due to the relatively small size
of their communities, the strength of their bonds
of friendship is expressed over the Web.
The problem of the lack of representation of
the largest communities needs to be addressed.
Why are there so few websites run by Nepalese
of Indian origin? Why are they not connected to
the rest of the corpus? First of all, because Indians
of Nepalese origin, who have been living in India
for more than one and a half centuries, strive
to acquire an Indian identity (Sinha & Subba,
2003). Therefore, they have no sense of belonging
to the Nepalese diaspora, or else this is seldom
expressed. This explains the absence of any links
with the rest of the corpus. And lastly, the many
activities of their numerous, often pan-Indian,
organizations are not mirrored on the Internet
due to sufficient social and financial capital to
ensure their presence.
This situation is comparable to that of Nepalese
expatriates working in the Gulf and in Malaysia6.
Although they amount to at least 2 million, that
is, more than 80 % of Nepalese migrants working
outside Nepal, they only represent 4 % of all websites. In Qatar for example, the Nepalese population is made up mostly of unskilled workers,
and despite the existence of more than a hundred
voluntary organizations, their participation in
the diasporic Web is very poor (of nine websites,
only two belong to voluntary organizations). The
fact that all these associations are illegal may be
a reason for their lack of visibility on the Internet. And finally, migrants in the Gulf can never
6. This is also true for Nepalese working in India.
8/16
obtain the citizenship of host countries: there are
transnational migrants who see migration as a
temporary experience.
When examining the corpus more closely, one
realizes that, thanks to the NRNA website and to
a lesser extent to that of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Nepal plays a central role as far as its diaspora is concerned, which is shown by the high
internal and external densities.
The geographical aspects are not canceled out by
the Web but enable us to explain the multipolar
structure of the corpus, in which interpolarity is
obvious. The diasporic Web portrays a postcolonial geography where migrants’ movements
are disconnected from any historical allegiance.
Though the American corpus, because of its
weight, is situated at the center of the corpus and
surrounded by other communities, the periphery
is represented by Indian Nepalese and those residing in the Gulf and in Malaysia. The geographical location of Nepalese expatriates is decisive for
understanding power relations in the diasporic
Web, which only reflect a differential takeover of
speech and power. Some assert themselves in the
public space, others remain in the background.
Authoritative websites and hubs:
“representational” models
A study of authoritative websites and of hubs
reveals that most Nepalese diasporic websites are
“representational” (Parham, 2005), in that they are
similar to magazines where a country and/or its
culture is put on display for its own community
or for those outside. It is a top–down model for
disseminating information, and is by no means
participatory or open. Information circulates in a
unilateral way. Internet users are seldom encouraged to participate, except on a few websites
where the forum is the main activity.7
Authoritative websites are those most cited in the
whole corpus (See Table 3). There is a particularly
large number of inbound links, which demonstrate how well known a website is on the Web.
Using mostly Nepali as the language of communication, five out the ten most-cited website belong
to the “media” category. They provide information
in the main and, to a lesser extent, offer entertainment. The NRNA occupies a major position, even
the very first, if we take into account all corpus
7. Only 6 % of all websites, mainly organizations, have an
open forum.
9/16
links (inbound and outbound). Its motto, “For
Nepali by Nepali”, is perfectly illustrated by the
way it encourages expatriates to close ranks and
by its centrality. However, its use of English as the
main language raises the question of excluding a
large part of the population with no access to this
language. This discriminatory policy in promoting the organization’s existence shows the limits
to inclusion according to the thinkers behind the
Nepalese diaspora (see paragraph 3-3).
Table 3: First ten authoritative websites
Website address
Website name
Website
category
Language
Location
Number of
inbound
links
http://nepaljapan.com/
nepaljapan
Media
Nepali
Japan
http://nepalipost.com/
Nepalipost
Media
Nepali
USA
51
News portal of global Media
nepali
Nepali
UK
45
http://rajan.com/
Rajan Nepali anubad Individual
English
USA
38
http://nepalarab.com/
News, information Media
entertainment and
more
Nepali
S a u d i
Arabia
34
English
Nepal
34
http://dcnepal.com/
http://nrn.org.np/
http://nepalbritain.com/
http://hknepal.com/
http://nepalhorizons.com/
http://www.mofa.gov.np/
Dcnepal.
Live Media
events, news and
entertainment
NRN Association
Hong Kong Nepal
V o l u n t a r y E n g l i s h , Nepal
organization Nepali
Media
N e p a l h o r i z o n s Media
Keeping the diaspora
connected
Ministry of Foreign Institution
Affairs
Do these authoritative websites serve the Nepalese diaspora? In a certain way, they do show
the permanency of links to the country of origin,
through media or institutions. Yet, though they
eclipse all the others, they are not representative
of the Nepalese diasporic Web, where 76 % of all
sites use only English.
I will not go into detail about the first ten hubs of
the corpus but instead will draw attention to how
the media dominate and how well positioned the
NRNA website is. The Nepalese Embassy in the
UK, which is visible on the graph, is an intermediary, a bridge website, between the general corpus
and the British and especially Gurkha one. At
N e p a l i , USA
English
83
64
50
Nepali, H o n g
English
Kong
40
N e p a l i , USA
English
37
the local level, a public institution (an embassy)
organizes the diaspora.
Ranked twelfth among the most influential websites, Sajha.com would deserve more than just a
few lines here; it would need a complete study
on its own. Contrary to other websites where
information is controlled and posted by a webmaster, Sajha, as a forum, is what Parham (2005)
calls network publics. Just as it offers classified ads
(adverts for lodging, jobs), mutual aid, a platform
for heated political discussions and entertainment, it is a more democratic space, less administered than others. It is certainly a place for building the diaspora because it is the fourth website
in terms of the use of the term “diaspora”.
Authoritative websites and most diasporic
Nepalese websites correspond to a way of disseminating authoritative discourses made by the
elite for the masses. Contrary to the notion of
subaltern publics used by Parham (2005), for whom
marginalized groups can take over the Internet
and create safe spaces, members of the Nepalese
diaspora who post on the web are already integrated in their host society whose standard of
education is high, as in the USA (Bohra-Mishra,
2011). The more marginalized Nepalese expatriates who become unskilled workers in the Gulf
and the Indian population of Nepalese descent
seldom express themselves on the Web.8
Multipolarity is a feature of the Nepalese diasporic Web, although the scattering of nodes (i.e.
websites) does not correspond to the geographical dispersion of people of Nepalese origin.
Is a Nepalese diaspora in
the making on the Web?
After having examined the organization of links
between websites and understood the importance
of websites based in the West, we will look in
a more qualitative way at what makes the websites of Nepalese expatriates peculiar. How do
they contribute to the making of the diaspora?
Do they condition the existence of the diaspora?
Without going into detail, I will demonstrate the
qualities of the diaspora, as seen on the Web. The
question of the self-representation of communities and of the possible unity of the diaspora will
be addressed. As members of the diaspora are
bound by “mental links” (Ma Mung, 2006: 411),
do hypertext links contribute to creating the diaspora’s social form?
Relations with Nepal9
Relations with the homeland have to be taken into
account when defining a diaspora (Safran, 1991),
since the question of the “orientation to a real or
imagined ‘homeland’ as an authoritative source
of value, identity and loyalty” (Brubaker, 2005:
5) is central to diasporic discourses. Whether
8. One could test this assertion by taking an interest in social
network practices, which are perhaps easier to access than
the Web 1.0.
9. The question of the representation of Nepal by diaspora
members on the Web, notably those born outside the homeland was addressed by Brouwer (2006) regarding Dutch of
Moroccan origin, for whom Morocco is above all a holiday
destination.
10/16
real (travel, sending remittances, humanitarian
or development actions), imaginary or fantasized, links with Nepal should prompt members
of the diaspora to openly support their country
of origin. The NRNA states, for example, that
it is “committed to creating a global network of
Nepali and streamline their energy and resources
so as to make the Diaspora a catalyst of economic
and social transformation of our motherland”.10
The characteristics of voluntary organizations and
virtual links with Nepal should logically reflect
the diasporans’ tendency to display a “homeland
orientation” (Brubaker, 2005).
Strangely enough, in my corpus, there are few
Nepal-oriented voluntary organizations with
humanitarian aims. If we count the number of
cultural organizations that announce a willingness to “help Nepal”, only thirty of them fall
within this category, that is six per cent of the
total corpus. This contradicts the assertion made
by Bohra-Mishra (2011), according to which
more than a hundred Nepalese associations in
the USA devote themselves to development in
Nepal. Comparing fieldwork data and data from
the Internet should make it possible to clarify the
situation.
One of the paradoxes that the diaspora faces is
that, while living in one place, diasporans have
to show solidarity and connections with another
place (Clifford, 1994). As far as links between
websites are concerned, Nepal enjoys the highest inbound density (among all countries),
thus showing a certain polarization of websites
towards those situated in the country of origin.
Showing allegiance to the NRNA and preserving
the national culture are important, but committing oneself to one��
’��
s country seems less important. In the end, this matches the distribution
of remittances sent home by migrants, most of
which come from the Gulf, Malaysia and India.
Associations’ websites or the
strength of localized communities
As we have seen, the general form of the graph
corresponds partly to the geographical position
of the Nepalese diasporic website. The importance of the locality shows the need for diasporic
communities (Tölölyan, 2005) and for voluntary
organizations in particular to take root.
10. Hem Raj Sharma, NRNA, February 2009, Liverpool.
11/16
Table 4: Types of voluntary organization
Type
Number
Cultural
93
Student
30
Ethnic
NRN
Cultural/humanitarian
Humanitarian
Political
Litterary
Professional
Religious
49
% of the organization corpus
Inbound
density
Internal
density
Outbound
density
19
0.4
2.4
0.8
7.8
1.9
35
11
25
9.5
13
5
15
10
6
4
6
2.3
5
2
6
2.3
Cultural organization websites dominate the
corpus, amounting to 35 % of voluntary organizations and of the total corpus. Once more,
websites housed in the USA and in the UK take
first place, with 58 % of all cultural organization
websites. The “identity-territory-memory triptyque» (Chivallon, 2006: 13) prevails in the Nepalese diasporic affirmation.11 The organizations’
focus on identity issues echoes another NRNA
motto: “Once a Nepali, always a Nepali.” In view
of the risks of watering down one’s identity and
of losing one’s bearings in a foreign country, the
essentialization of the Nepalese identity is visible
in the objectives fixed by organizations’ statutes.
Merouk.com (“my UK”), for example, wants to
“unite the UK Nepalese to preserve, promote and
develop Nepalese culture, tradition and literature
for an identity of Nepalese establishing a global
network”. The question of the Nepalese diasporic
culture disrupting the national cultural model has
yet to be studied, since cultural production has
not entered the age of hybridity, which characterizes diaspora according to Hall (1999), but it
still belongs to the realm of non re-interpreted
heritage.12 Apart from these identity-oriented
objectives, voluntary organizations support both
mutual-help initiatives and the development of
local communities based on national belonging. They have the strongest links with the NRN
category.
11. 73 % of cultural organization websites have “Nepal” in
their name.
12. Only a few websites show the hybrid culture of the younger generation, which does not claim Nepalese roots but a
belonging to a global youth culture.
0.6
1.5
0.3
12.2
0.9
0.4
0.9
0.9
0.2
0.7
0.2
0.3
1.2
12
0
0
0
1
0.2
0.4
0.5
0.6
1
0.4
0.1
Forty-nine websites of ethnic organizations, half
of which are in the USA and the UK, reflect the
Nepalese identity policies that have developed
over the last two decades. The main Nepalese
ethnic groups are well represented on the Web,
with the exception of the untouchables (dalit)
who have only one website. The digital marginalization of dalits reflects their social marginalization in migration processes and their poor access
to the world of digital information. Should we
then speak of an “indigenous diaspora��
” (Clifford��
, 2006) for these groups of ethnic organizations that claim to have been in Nepal prior to
the caste groups that arrived from the fifteenth
century onwards? The question still stands as long
as there are strong indigenous demands in Nepal:
claiming dispersion to impose autochthony is a
stance than requires further investigation.
On the graph, the wnso.org student portal forms
a distinct group, the only one not to be based on
a geographical position. But it also shows the students’ marginalization in the diaspora, no doubt
because the NRNA does not grant them NRN
status.
The number of NRNA websites and those of its
local branches amount to twenty-five and are
scattered homogeneously throughout the corpus.13 They are closely linked and benefit from
being well known. This dual feature shows the
importance of the NRNA as an institution and
its role in organizing the diaspora.
Finally, the ten websites representing political
parties belong (70 %) to the Nepali Congress
13. Officially, the NRNA has 45 branches worldwide.
(center-right), while the others belong to the
Nepalese Communist Party (center-left) and
to the Maoist Communist Party. The political
dimension of the diaspora, which is not only
expressed on the parties’ websites, is nonetheless
an important aspect of expatriates’ mobilization,
as Bernal (2006) has shown in the Eritrean case.
It was expressed in particular in 2005 on diasporic
websites when King Gyanendra seized power
with a coup d’état and put an end to all political
freedom in Nepal. The Web was a means of organizing a virtual mobilization but also prompted
demonstrations in front of Nepalese embassies.
The diaspora’s national sentiment was valorized.
12/16
for expressing shared interests and a common
identity. Even though discussions are rare – the
organizations’ forums are barely active – viewing
photographs or films of cultural events enables
Internet users to relive moments of conviviality
on foreign soil. The visibility of “a link culture”
(Diminescu, 2008) and the expression of frontiers
between groups are displayed and mis en scène by
the group to express its own individuality. The
diaspora is a process that manifests itself in its
relations to difference (Tölölyan, 2007).
Diaspora, a domination principle?
The diaspora can never be a homogenous group,
but its promoters like to portray it as such in
order to assert its importance. However, the unity
of the diaspora must not be taken for granted.
Why would dispersion, exile and co-presence
be enough to instill a sense of belonging in an
often distant and misunderstood social form (i.e.
the diaspora), in individuals who have not necessarily followed the same social and professional
trajectories? As we shall see, far from uniting the
community, the way in which the Nepalese diaspora uses and makes postings on the Web give
the impression that the term “diaspora” has been
confiscated for the benefit of an active minority.
All voluntary organization websites claim, often
in the title of their website, an anchorage point
where the community has settled. The locality is of some importance, save for a few websites which try to create virtual communities that
have no local bearing, and which dominate the
“type of association” graph (http://maps.e-diasporas.fr/index.php?focus=nodeattribute&graph
=62&map=36&nodeattribute=9&section=12),
like nrn.org.np, inls.org (a literary organization)
or wnso.org (student organization). The principle
of the diaspora’’ integration in the host country
is highlighted, as shown, for example, by the
Association of Nepalese in Midwest America,
which offers online advice called “Adjusting to
the American Way of Life: Tips for Visitors, Students and Immigrants From Nepal”. Thus, two
scales of belonging can be identified: global and
local. Websites can thus be considered as places
The use of English as the main language on the
Nepalese diasporic web (61 % of all websites use
English as their main language) highlights the
practices of relegating a large part of Nepalese
expatriates. English cannot be considered, as
Table 4: Languages used on websites1
Languages used
% websites
English
58
Nepali
17
English/Nepali
13
Nepali/English
9
1. The “English/Nepali” category means that English is used more than Nepali.
in India, to be a unifying language because it is
spoken so little, and Nepali remains the national
language. Eighty-five per cent of Australian websites and 70 % of American and British websites
are in English. The proportion rises to 85 % and
to 90 % of English as the main language in the
last two countries. This reflects the domination of
the English language in 80 % of voluntary sector
websites. Even 68 % of NRN websites use English
as their main language. Media websites are the
only ones to use Nepali to a high proportion (63
%), thus showing the extent to which the national
language is important with regard to contact with
the homeland. Could English be the language of
scattered communities wishing to become integrated in English-speaking countries? Nevertheless, language is a discriminatory tool that does
not encourage identification with the diaspora.
Similarly, whereas the term “��
��
diaspora��
”��
seems relatively neutral and gathers together a group of people, processes for building this social form show
that the stakes involving domination are decisive.
The domination of American-based websites, like
“the American Hmong hegemony on the Web”
(Moua, 2009), is the sign of a process whereby a
minority appropriates a community that is in the
making. The working class, the Untouchables and
Indians of Nepali origin are rendered invisible
on the Web by classes with a higher social and
cultural capital, and this reproduces both old and
new hierarchies, as observed among the Indian
diaspora (Gajjala, 2006).14 It reflects the perpetuation of caste-based hierarchies in the UK��
’��
s Nepalese community, where discriminatory practices
towards dalits are still common (Pariyar, 2011).
It might also reflect Sheffer’s (2003: 141-142)
temporal and linear visions of the types of diaspora. Indians of Nepalese origin would therefore
belong to the dormant diaspora, the one assimilated to the host society, barely interested in the
homeland but inclined to be “awakened»”. The
rest of the diasporic population would belong to
an incipient diaspora, with differences depending
on the social groups and the host countries. The
making of an active militant diasporic elite ultimately becoming a lobbying group is not in itself
all that uncommon (Tölölyan, 1996). In the case
of Nepalese expatriates, however, the study of
the Web as a chamber for recording domination
practices makes it seem original. Diasporas are
never unitary agents (Ragazzi, 2009), although
they often claim to be.
During fieldwork carried out in Qatar among
poorly qualified Nepalese workers, I never heard
them use the word “diaspora”. On the other hand,
local members of the NRNA use the term, not to
emphasize their “multicultural [and hybrid] identities” (Ragazzi, 2009) but in reference to their
Nepalese culture, their links with Nepal and their
efforts to help their fellow citizens. Although
only two of the 470 websites have “diaspora” in
their title, the term appears on the NRNA website more than on any other site – NRN equals
diaspora –, hknepal.com (Hong Kong Nepal)
or the forum Sajha.com. This prestigious term
(Tölölyan, 2007: 648) that has been appropriated
by the expatriate elite (more entrepreneurial than
intellectual) is used to refer to oneself and has
a performative effect, as Moua (2009) observed
among the Hmongs, or Simonins, Watin et al.
(2009) among people from the Île de la Réunion.
14. A sociological study should be undertaken to examine
the caste make-up of members of the permanent staff of voluntary organizations.
13/16
Using it “institutes [the Nepalese diaspora] as a
diaspora and transforms it as such” (Ma Mung,
2000: 19). The mise en scène of the term on the
internet helps to federate communities, to think
about the group beyond its divisions but also to
impose the use of the term ‘diaspora’ and to wield
power over scattered communities. As in autosuggestion, by repeating to ourselves that we form
a diaspora, we hope to become one.
Conclusion: the web as
a prestigious tool for
diaspora activists
The Nepalese diaspora is a project, a position
launched by the elite above who deliver an official
discourse that the people below are supposed to
follow. Diasporic websites are a tool for implementing this policy of forming the group. They
represent a “category of practice” (Brubaker 2005:
12) and a means to express allegiance to the
country of origin or to the created social form.
They contribute to the creation of a nascent diaspora through the links they have forged with
each other and through performativity, that is
by the mere fact that they exist and call themselves a diaspora. They correspond to a policy of
making scattered groups visible and of gathering
them under terms (diaspora, NRN), aimed at the
group’s self-awareness. Internet is a catalyst, proof
of the existence of a social group whose objectives
to preserve the Nepali culture, to ensure mutual
help or to contribute to Nepal’s development, are
said to be shared by all.
The study of the Nepalese diasporic Web shows
the high degree of connections between sites, a
variety of agents, thus a high level of organization,
despite the recent diasporic claims by a majority
of transnational migrants. The Nepalese diaspora
is emerging because it is at the stage where transnational migrants settle permanently in their host
countries, where voluntary sector organizations
are being structured and where links are being
created between poles of dispersion. The diaspora
comes into existence through action, by formulating a public project.
However, the Nepalese e-diaspora is exclusive
and incomplete. Despite the formal membership
in NRNA of 2.5 million workers in the Gulf
countries and in Malaysia, they barely have any
room to move in the public sphere that the Web
represents. Similarly, Indians of Nepalese origin
(excluded from NRNs according to its statutes)
are practically absent from the diasporic Web in
spite of their large number.15 Nevertheless, the
over-representation of some agents goes against
the NRNA’s desire for homogeneity. The hierarchies are reproduced according to social classes
and to the host countries. Exposure on the Web
contributes to the marginalization of some and
helps others to seize power over a social group
in order to strengthen their networks and power.
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